Still slow. I wish I had better news but I don't. We are catching some VERY nice fish on each outing but thus far but we have not been able to put together big numbers. I have tried a lot of different things but it seems that no matter where ever I go or what ever I try, things are just slow. We just seem to catch a "few" fish no matter what. We mark them on the fish finder very heavily only to catch, you guessed it, "a few". The joke lately aboard "the Trophy" when somebody excitedly yells "fish on !" I respond with a, "no way ... !" Everybody thus far have been very good sports about the slower then usual fishing. If only everyone knew how gut wrenching it is for me to not live up to what I know the area by now should normally be producing on most normal years.
I think we had a lot of factors working against us this past week that stacked the odds against us. We had a very full moon this past week and even in the best of times we seem to struggle because the darn Walleyes feed heavily all night and a bit after daybreak and then seem to get a bad case of lock jaw. That and we had quite a few days of east winds, my absolute most un favorite wind direction. It's true, " wind from the east, fishing's at it's least" ! That and the water temperature is way colder then in a normal years thus far. We need a string of 80+ degree days to warm the water and get even more fish in the area ! The warmer the rest of the lake gets, the more fish move into the cooler, deeper waters of Ashtabula for the summer.
We seemingly have done the best of what we are catching right now in water between 50 and 55 feet in depth. The planer board have been doing the best for us with the jet divers anywhere between 60 and 150 back. The dipseys only on occasion contribute a fish or two. Very frustrating because normally by now the divers are a big part of our program. The downriggers which even in a good year are almost worthless for Walleyes around here are living up to their expectations. Pretty much suck ... They will have their day or two where they are smoking hot once the Walleyes go super deep but that has not happened yet.
So we are entering the second half of the month already. It is truly amazing how fast the weeks slip by around here. How I long for the days when the guys are bitching because they limited out too fast and their trip was over. Remember me writing last year that you can't have it both ways ? You either get out their and "get er done" or you ride around all day and work on your tan. I guess I don't have that much to say in how the day will go. It's between Mother Nature and fate which determines how the actual day will go down. I can merely try as hard as I can and after that, oh well ! Perhaps next weeks report will be more optimistic. We are Sooooooooo over due now ! We still have a couple of few dates left for those looking. Thursday June the 25th, and July the 1st as well as July the 15th. Call me ( 216-387-2656 ) if you would like to grab one of the last few remaining spots aboard "The Trophy" ! Now back to my regularly scheduled glass of wine ! LOL
Capt. Walt
|